Bosnian Dwelling Tradition: Continuity and Transformation in the Reconstruction

The city of Sarajevo has evolved over many centuries into a major multicultural center in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Growing from ancient origins, it developed the vibrancy of a Middle Eastern city but was also enriched by an ongoing process of intercultural dialogue between old-world civilizations and neighboring European cultures. Over half a millennium, while involved in this process of transformation and identity struggle, the city has also experienced recurring episodes of devastation and rebirth. Archeological findings reveal that the area of today’s Sarajevo was first settled in the Neolithic era. Later, a Roman settlement evolved, which was gradually replaced by a medieval parish. After 1462, as a town called Bosna-saraj, the city began to develop its present-day urban form as the westernmost center of the Ottoman Empire, gradually incorporating the medieval Vrhbosna parish and several other settlements in the valley of the Miljacka River. Its location was favorably positioned near the source of the Bosna River, at the foot of Mt. Trebevic, and at T D S R V O L U M E X I N U M B E R I 1 9 9 9 49